Greenpatch New Year Tealights

As ever, I'm indebted to  Archdruid Eileen, both for the inspiration for this post and  for relieving me of the onerous task of digging around in the bowels of my blog in order to dredge up my "Highlights of 2012." Where the Beaker Folk go, I will follow - preferably at least ten miles behind ensconced in a cosy cafe with copious supplies of tea, cakes and back copies of the Church Times.

1. I too will not obsess over my blog stats this year. I've enough problems with my RL vital statistics. 2012 was the year when post-menopausal symptoms kicked in big time.

2. Tweeting is for the birds, whatever St Francis may have had to say on the matter. However, I shall continue to promote  shamelessly nick   wisdom where I find it; the pearls of a certain Archdruid deserve far greater exposure than they're currently receiving, I'm sure you'll agree.

3.  I'm a Franciscan.  I wouldn't dream of upsetting other people in order to up my blog stats; far better to stick to safe, uncontroversial topics like kittens, embroidery and bird baths. Though funnily enough, St Francis would not have agreed with me on this one. I suspect he upset rather a lot of folk in his time. As I've written elsewhere part of the Franciscan ethos is to be the awkward squad, the irritant in the oyster, the questioner of the status quo. I may need some practice on this one then...

4. Feedjit? Get thee behind me... Though I'll admit to missing the frisson of excitement and panic as you try to work out whether the reader from one's home town is a) My husband, b) the vicar c) a stalker or d) the lady in charge of the after church coffee rota.

5. Klout?  At risk of sounding like that judge in the 60's who didn't know who the Beatles were, what's that? Our son will relate proudly to anybody willing to listen that I still don't know who Cheryl Cole is. I'll just have to resign myself to the fact that I'll never blog with The Big Boys.

6. E-Buzzing?  It's for the bees. I shall nobly resist all temptation to join in the blogosphere's obsession with labelling and  ranking  everything that moves. I shall forgive their predecessor, Wikio (to whose database one of my old blogs was submitted without my knowledge or permission) for placing my most   valuable pieces of  spiritual and theological reflection in the "Entertainment" category. (I think it must have been the Dr Who references that confused them.) For some reason the current setup only ranks Growing Greenpatches on the French version of the site. There  must be some very puzzled French blog readers out there, methinks.  Especially as the "Religion and Belief" category doesn't appear to exist across The Channel.

7. We've kept quiet about the wax splashes on side chapel carpet at church after my last, unfortunate foray into the world of tealights. I like them; they don't like me.

8. ?

9. Re-tweeting? See 2 above. Nothing wrong with it IMHO. It's much the same as recycling my old Greenpatches, surely?

10. Same Sex Marriage? See 3 above.  Could Do Better.

Happy New Year, everybody!